“I’ve been transporting patients to and from hospitals”

The former firefighter was training to be an ambulance driver when coronavirus struck, and Dale has been transporting patients all over Bristol ever since

I was training to be a non-emergency ambulance driver when the pandemic occurred. It meant that my day job — I run Badminton Blinds with my wife, Sandy — ceased instantly because we weren’t allowed into customers’ homes, and so I ended up concentrating all my efforts on transporting patients around Bristol for E-zec Medical Transport.

I was in the fire service for 12 years when we lived in Wales, often driving the fire engine and working as a first responder, and so getting behind the wheel of an ambulance wasn’t too much of a shock to my system. The part that wasn’t so familiar was Bristol’s streets — although the fact that all of the traffic disappeared because we were by then in total lockdown made it easier to find my way around with my trusty satnav.

During my 10-hour shifts I’ve been transporting patients to and from hospitals and nursing homes, to dialysis appointments for example, while some others were recovering from Covid. Some were still definitely rather unwell, but they no longer needed to be in hospital.

Sandy and I caught Covid in November. I had it badly for 10 days; every muscle ached. After that I still didn’t feel right for a long time and it’s only recently that I’ve been back to full strength. Sandy, who has mild asthma, had an even worse time of it and spent two weeks on oxygen in Southmead Hospital (where she works as a health care assistant).

Once I had finished isolating, I went back to looking after the horses morning and night. We keep my horse, Boysie, at a local livery yard, along with Flori, a young Andalusian mare, whom we are currently backing. Then I would come home and cook for myself and Megan, our daughter. Sandy says that by the time she returned home I looked exhausted and far worse than she did!

I started riding when I was in my ‘30s. Sandy persuaded me to get on a horse and I became hooked. I started competing almost immediately and I won several ribbons in endurance on an Arab called Ben. Then I tried eventing on a cheap Thoroughbred called Kilmurray Jack.

Over the years I had several horses, some with problems, which led me to want to produce my own. And that is what I did with Boysie. We’ve since done many things together — from riding club dressage and cross-country clinics to the Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse class at Badminton and the Eventer Challenge at Blenheim, representing the Kings Leaze Riding Club.

My plan is to do affiliated eventing for the first time in 2022, and I’m really looking forward to it.

Horse’s name: Lyndell Birthday Boy (Boysie) Age: Eight Breed: A mixed bag — his dam was a TB x Hanoverian, with his sire an Irish Sport Horse x Selle Français Where did he come from: We bought a mare called Fair Adventure (Ellie) from a local stud farm for Sandy as a confidence-boosting schoolmistress. Ellie was in foal — that foal was Boysie. Your greatest achievement: I’m really proud that I backed Boysie and trained him myself to become the lovely horse he is today. Character traits: He’s a 16.3hh gentle giant, and he always tries to please. How he’s helped me through this: Being able to visit Boysie and Flori, as well as ride, has given everything a sense of normality. There’s no doubt that horses are good for mental health.